Why is an African Elephant an Endangered Species?

African elephant are endangered species and that is a statement that everyone needs to take seriously. Elephant are enormous species and they are one’s that are held by many cultures with highest regard. However, the number of elephant in Africa has continued to plummet at an alarming rate (Ogutu, et al 2011). There are various reasons to why African Elephants have been marked as endangered species. There have been illegal killing of elephants and destruction of their natural habitats. In most case, elephants have been illegally killed with an aim of extracting ivory tusks (Ogutu, et al 2011). This ivory tusks tends to be sold at incredible amount an aspect that makes the activity look so appealing. African elephants are killed, tusks are taken and their bodies are left to decompose. It has been a worry for the entire African region especially among those dedicated toward protecting the animals (Kiringe & Okello, 2007).
There is another reason to why elephants have been endangered animal in Africa. Mainly, their natural habitats have been wiped out. Due to this, the elephants have not been able to roam around as they used there before in search of food. Due to this challenge, most of the African elephants have been starving to death which has been a fate to the animal. Generally, more of their natural habitants are being depleted they have been stuck while in the process of fighting for the little food left for them (Wato, Wahungu & Okello, 2006).
In other areas of the world, elephant have been considered with high regards. Despite this, in Africa, elephant have been considered as a nuisance. For many villagers in the region, they love to see them dead to ensure that they don’t feed on their vegetations. For large part of the Africans, hunting the animal tends to be a great thrill (Ogutu, et al 2011). People will have to pay large amount of money only to get involved in the hunting safaris. The safaris are led by individuals within the African villages who are aware of the exact place where the elephants are located. However, such activities are considered as illegal, the laws have not been that much strict and this cause continuity of the activity within the region (Wato, Wahungu & Okello, 2006).
The fact is that, it takes more than 22 months for female elephant to bear a single young one. This makes it challenging for the African government to increase the elephant populations. Actually, the female elephant do not mate until the age of fourteen and those elephants that are killed before that time never get a chance of brining offspring to the world. For the males, they tend to be almost 40 or 50 while they mate with the female ones (Ogutu, et al 2011). Generally, the older elephant have the longest tusks that poachers are after and this is the reason for their killing. as well, the same older elephant are the one that have the strong genetics. It is crucial for them to breed to ensure that the offspring generated will be strong and healthy (Ogutu, et al 2011).